Oilseeds typically contain from about 20 percent oil to about 50 percent oil by weight, with the percentages varying with the type of oilseed. Generally, the seed is pressed, with or without a prior heat treatment step, to obtain a pressed oil and a pressed seedcake. Generally, the pressed seedcake is then solvent extracted to remove or reduce the remaining oil. After removal of the solvent from the pressed seedcake and drying of the seedcake, there generally remains a defatted meal, which contains from about 25% to about 55% of protein on a dry weight basis.
Some defatted meals, depending upon the oilseed, contain a high amount of fiber, as well as other antinutritional factors and undesirable compounds, such as glucosinolates, phytic acid or phytates, sinapine and sinigrin. The fiber and antinutritional factors present in the protein render the defatted meal unattractive for commercial uses.
In the case of canola defatted meal, one method of separating the protein from the fiber, antinutritional factors and other undesirable compounds has been to dissolve the canola protein in a high ionic strength (i.e. high salt content) aqueous solution. This results in the canola protein dissolving in the aqueous solution, while the fiber is insoluble. However, the salt is difficult and uneconomical to remove from the resultant canola protein solution. There remains a need for processes to remove fiber that do not affect protein quality.